


How Do You Call?

by CozyEmblem



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Comfort, F/F, Language Barrier, Petradot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 23:32:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20199997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CozyEmblem/pseuds/CozyEmblem
Summary: Petra and Dorothea love each other, but just how much is a question caught in the language barrier. Tragedy has a way of accelerating processes.





	How Do You Call?

* * *

Nightmares flashed across Dorothea’s mind like lightning through the windows of a pitch black mansion and she walked a little faster. There are times when the world falls apart in a handful of words. There are times when a single sentence can plunge day into night. “You should talk to Petra.”

“Why?” She had asked, her heart dialing up its rhythm.

“You just need to.” The reply had come and she fled across campus. There were a hundred things it could be and dozens that meant Dorothea would never see her might-have-been girlfriend again. Each of them circled her mind like sharks and by the time she pounded on Petra’s door, every bit of composure had deserted her.

“Petra!” She called and Ingrid poked her head out of a door down the hall.

“Dorothea?” She asked. “What’s-”

“Not now,” Dorothea said and Ingrid frowned, assessing the situation before nodding, realizing she wasn’t going to be much use right this moment and retreating. The door opened to a tear stained girl who looked worse than Dorothea had ever seen her. In truth, she hadn’t seen her in anything but pristine, perfect condition. “Petra?” She asked, hating the way her voice cracked. She cleared it. “Can I come in?” She didn’t know the problem, didn’t need to know before offering to help. Petra nodded and stepped aside, allowing Dorothea into the small dorm before shutting it quietly.

“You have hearing the news.” Petra said and Dorothea swallowed, shaking her head as she saw Petra wipe a tear from her eye.

“Edelgard said I ought to come talk to you, but she didn’t tell me what was wrong.”

“Foolish.” Petra sighed. “Please, sit.” She gestured to the bed and Dorothea sat, her heart racing as she realized they were well and truly in the heart of whatever was to come.

“Foolish of me to come?” Dorothea asked.

“Good heart, no!” Petra said, sitting beside Dorothea. She smelled of lavender. “Foolish of Edelgard not to be telling you. Know you-” She paused, shaking her head. “Do you know what today is?”

“It’s…” Dorothea ran through the calendar in her mind. Friday, but that didn’t seem important. Monday was a school holiday, meaning they had no lectures and it was because it was the anniversary of the end of the civil war. The civil war that Petra’s father had lost his life in. “Oh.” She said. “Oh Petra, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe it slipped my mind, I had a few projects and there was an exam today and-”

“Dorothea,” Petra said, gently resting a cold hand over Dorothea’s, which were clutching her skirt tightly. If that were it, perhaps Dorothea would have maintained a semblance of cool, but Petra’s fingers lingered and she squeezed Dorothea’s hand, which sent her heart into her throat where she felt her pulse thrumming. “Are you hearing me?”

“What?” Petra said. “Sorry, I…”

“I said, you have nothing to be apologizing for.” Petra said gently and Dorothea smiled up at her friend’s face. Even here, even now with her eyes red from crying and her make-up nowhere in sight she was the most beautiful girl Dorothea knew.

“But,” Dorothea said, looking away to allow her mind access to thoughts beyond the girl who was extremely close. “I should have known today would be an awful day for you. And now you’re taking care of me!” She realized with horror, sitting up straighter. “Oh, Petra not another word about me, how are you doing?” With a show of will, she rested her free hand atop Petra’s, sandwiching it between both of hers as she reversed their position and smiled warmly. “If you need a shoulder to cry on, mine is always here.”

“I think I have cried enough today.” Petra smiled. “But I am thanking you for your friendship.”

“Of course,” Dorothea smiled warmly, hoping that it did a decent job of concealing her disappointment at being called a friend. She rebuked herself for feeling that familiar disappointment when Petra had never so much as hinted that she wanted anything more. And yet… Yet they were still clutching hands and neither seemed willing to let go.

“What’s wrong?” Petra asked and Dorothea swallowed, laughing a little as she was prepared to put on a show.

“Oh, nothing I ran here and-”

“No,” Petra said, shaking her head as she squeezed Dorothea’s fingers again. The pink-haired girl’s fingers had grown warm in her grasp. “You are hiding from me, please be telling me?”

“I…” Dorothea paused. What was there to say? If there was a day to confess her feelings, if there was a moment for the two of them to share in romance and go beyond their friendship it certainly wasn’t here and now when the two of them had just discussed Petra’s father dying only years ago. And yet. Dorothea rose from the bed and clasped her hands together as she walked to the window, looking out at the quad where so many students milled about, laughing, enjoying their time together.

“Dorothea?” Petra asked.

“Maybe it’s the way you look through me and see my heart without trying or maybe it’s the way you only ever use your ability to know me in order to make sure I’m okay,” Dorothea said softly. “But I find myself wishing I was talking to you.”

“You are talking to me.” Petra said, sounding confused.

“I mean,” Dorothea turned, smiling sadly and wiping a tear from her cheek. “When I’m not with you. When I’m talking to other friends or when I’m on dates with boys who want to take me to their dorms and ghost me the next morning as if I don’t see them on campus.”

“Who is a ghost?” Petra asked, looking furious as she stood up. “I will be finding them!”

“That’s just it,” Dorothea said, laughing softly. “You would never hurt me. You would always look for ways to make me safe. I know that about you.”

“Then…” Petra frowned, her hands out, palms upturned. “What is being the problem?”

“The problem,” Dorothea said as she took a heavy breath, realizing that she was on the precipice of ruining everything if Petra reacted poorly. She looked into those pale eyes and took a leap. “Is that I realized I want to be dating you instead of being friends.” Petra stared at her for a long, heart-pounding moment and Dorothea wondered if she had made a mistake.

“And?” Petra asked.

“What?” Dorothea replied, frowning.

“And what is being the problem?” Petra asked.

“The-…” Dorothea struggled to grasp the situation. Their language barrier was rarely a problem and when it was, there only needed to be a second’s consideration before it was worked out. This was agony.

“Dorothea…” Petra said slowly. “What is friend meaning in your language?”

“Uh…” Dorothea considered this and started to get a picture for a possible confusion they had. “Someone who…” She took a deep breath, composing herself. “Someone you like to spend time with but don’t have a romantic relationship with.”

“Oh.” Petra said. “That is what we call acquaintance, I was thinking. Some who is being known but without romance.”

“Oh, uh. No… that’s…” Dorothea wanted to make several leaps, but if she was wrong about what Petra was saying she wasn’t sure she would recover from the shock of disappointment. “An acquaintance is like a friend who you don’t know very well or who you don’t want to know very well.”

“A coworker?” Petra asked and Dorothea blinked.

“No, that’s-…” She paused. Actually, the two weren’t far off. “A special kind of acquaintance who you know through work. Like a classmate but at a job.”

“Oh!” Petra said, her eyes wide. “Oh!”

“What’s wrong?” Dorothea asked.

“What is the word for a friend you have romantic relationship with?”

“That’s-…” Dorothea cleared her throat. Petra was usually extremely good at knowing the right words, only fumbling verbally on tenses and the like. To see her clearly fumble a word seemed a little bit like catching her undressed. Heat rushed to her face as she rapidly changed her thoughts back to language. “Dependant upon the gender of the person sometimes, girlfriend or boyfriend are the gendered versions, partner is the neutral version.”

“Girlfriend and friend are not the same?” Petra frowned.

“No, not quite.” Dorothea said. “There’s a lot of history but straight girls will sometimes call their friends girlfriends, which makes it confusing.”

“Oh,” Petra said, clapping her palm to her forehead. “I am misunderstanding.”

“That’s-…” Dorothea paused. “Fair.” She finished, waiting as politely as she could for Petra to take the lead. She wasn’t sure her heart could take asking questions and getting shot down.

“Dorothea, I am been thinking that you and I were girlfriends this whole time. Is that how it is said?”

“That… depends,” Dorothea said. “Do you have romantic feelings for me?”

“Of course!” Petra said. “You are beautiful and your heart is golden.”

“Oh,” Dorothea pressed her fingers to her own chest. “I…”

“But be holding, did you not think the same?”

“No,” Dorothea said and then, quickly she added, “I mean I have romantic feelings for you too! I just didn’t realize you had them for me.”

“Oh,” Petra said, laughing as she smoothed her pink hair back in its ponytail. “Oh dear.” She sat back on the bed and Dorothea sat with her. “I was thinking all this time that you are preferring a slow relationship. So I have been waiting for you to do anything.”

“No!” Dorothea said, laughing. “I’m-…” She cut herself off from saying she was easy, despite happily saying it often. She frowned. “Petra! You know I’ve been dating boys, has that been upsetting you?”

“No,” Petra said, frowning. “I am thinking you like multiple people.”

“Oh,” Dorothea said. She considered it and shook her head. “No, I…” She bit her lip. “When I’m in a relationship I prefer being with one person.”

“I’m understanding.” Petra said. “Dorothea?” She reached out and took Petra’s hands so gently that Dorothea was sure she would burst. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“It would be my pleasure!” Dorothea beamed.

“May I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Dorothea said, feeling like she was sailing on clouds as Petra squeezed her fingers.

“What are you comfortable with doing?”

“Anything,” Dorothea said dreamily.

“Anything?” Petra asked, her eyes half-lidded in a deeply suggestive expression that made warmth spread out from Dorothea’s stomach out to her whole body.

“That’s what I said.” Dorothea agreed.

“If I am laying you back and kissing you, you will not mind?”

“Unless I say stop, you are…” Dorothea began and laughed softly. “Listen to me, I-” Petra’s soft lips caught Dorothea’s in a gentle, insistent kiss and Dorothea couldn’t help but moan in soft surprise as she kissed Petra back. She tasted like vanilla, who actually tasted that way? When Petra pulled back, Dorothea’s mind was complete mush.

“What were you saying?” Petra prompted.

“Unless I say stop,” Dorothea continued, far less self-conscious. “You’re welcome to do whatever you like with me.”

“I’m liking the sound of that.” Petra said as she rested a hand on Dorothea’s shoulder and gently urged her to move back and lie on the bed with Petra straddling her. The world outside was full of dangers, both political and metal. But for the two of them inside the small room atop the small bed, there was warmth and there was joy.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot to preview the feel of the slow-burn, nsfw university AU I intend to write of these two, so stay tuned!


End file.
